Cultural Change in Colonial and Post-Colonial India

Flashcards covering key social terms, reformers, publications, and four processes of social change from the lecture transcript.

Social Structure

A continuing arrangement of persons in relationships defined or controlled by institutions.

Culture

Socially established norms or patterns of behaviour.

Raja Ram Mohun Roy

A 19th-century social reformer who attacked the practice of sati using arguments based on humanitarian and natural rights doctrines as well as Hindu shastras.

Mahadev Govind Ranade

A reformer whose writings elaborated shastric sanction for widow remarriage in works such as "The Texts of the Hindu Law on the Lawfulness of the Remarriage of Widows".

Sir Syed Ahmed Khan

A reformer whose interpretation of Islam emphasised the validity of free enquiry (ijtihad) and similarities between Koranic revelations and natural laws discovered by modern science.

Kandukuri Viresalingam

A social reformer whose work "The Sources of Knowledge" reflected navya-nyaya logic, and who translated the works of biologist Julius Huxley.

Satish Saberwal's Framework of Change

A modern framework outlined by sociologist Satish Saberwal sketching three aspects of change in colonial India: modes of communication, forms of organisation, and the nature of ideas.

All-India Muslim Ladies Conference

An organization founded in 1914 (also known as Anjuman-E-Khawatn-E-Islam) where Muslim women debated social issues, including polygamy.

Jotiba Phule

A social reformer who opened the first school for women in Pune, recalled the glory of the pre-Aryan age, and critiqued upper-caste hypocrisy.

Jahanara Shah Nawaz

A speaker at the All India Muslim Ladies Conference who proposed a resolution against polygamy, arguing it violated the true spirit of the Quran.

Tahsib-e-Niswan

The leading women's journal in the Punjab that supported the resolution condemning polygamy.

Dharma Sabha

An organisation formed by orthodox Hindu community members in Bengal to petition the British against the Brahmo Samaj's authority to interpret sacred texts.

Sanskritisation

A term coined by M.N. Srinivas referring to the process by which a 'low' caste, tribe, or group takes over the customs, rituals, beliefs, ideology, and lifestyle of a high, 'twice-born' (dwija) caste.

De-Sanskritisation

A process occurring in regions where non-Sanskritic castes were dominant, leading regional culture to be primarily shaped by non-Sanskritic influences.

Westernisation

Defined by M.N. Srinivas as the changes brought about in Indian society and culture as a result of over 150 years of British rule across technology, institutions, ideology, and values.

Raja Ravi Varma

An Indian painter whose portraits blended traditional two-dimensional styles with European oil painting techniques, spatial organisation, and perspective.

Modernisation

A process of social change where local/parochial perspectives give way to universal commitments, scientific calculation, achieved status, and individual choice over birth.

Secularisation of Caste

The shift in caste operation from a traditional religious framework centered on purity and pollution to political pressure groups and caste associations seeking demands from the state.